Theodore j



(N0 Modei.)

T.J. ZOELLER.

' MUNICIPAL TELEGRAPH SYSTEM.

No. 396,450. Patented Jan. 22, 1889.

' INVENTORY,

Zaiw 67L yeweZZ J55 0i. Ryan MNITED STATES PATENT rFicE- THEODORE J. ZOELLER, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE UNITED STATES SIGNAL CLOCK COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MUNICIPAL TELEGRAPH SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 396,450, dated January 22, 1889.

Application filed January 5, 1888. Serial No. 259,893. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: rapid impulses and the other to the longer Be it known that I, THEODORE J. ZOELLER, impulses, by which means one circuit or line a citizen of the United States, residing at Loumay be utilized for two distinct kinds of sigisville, in the county of Jeiferson and State of naling, which may be employed to transmit Kentucky, have invented certain new and usesignals for different purposes or of different 5 f ul Improvementsin Municipal Telegraph Syssignificance without interference with one antelns, of which the following is a specification, other. The purposes to which I prefer to apreference being had to the drawings accomply these properties of the system are for repanying and forming a part of the same. cording the movements of watchmen or the The object of this invention is to provide an police by one kind of impulse and by sending 6o ,1

electrical telegraphic or signaling system for and receiving fire-alai ms by the other, or by cities and towns by means of which signals both combined. I shall therefore describe of various kinds may be transmitted from the invention as applied and adapted to these different points in the town to a central stapurposes; but it will be understood that I do tion or stations. not restrict myself tothese particular uses.

The invention pertains to the general class It is not new to employ with one and the of municipal telegraphs, including fire-alarms, same circuit instruments of different degrees police-patrol, and other similar electrical sysof resistances, or, in other Words, of such chartems of signaling. act-er that one will be operated by rapid in- 20 The particular objects of the invention are terruptions only and the other by sloW makes to simplify the system as awhole withoutimand breaks only; but my invention differs pairing its efficiency and reliability, and to so from these by the peculiarities of construcreduce its cost as to render it possible for tion which I shall now describe. many of those smaller cities and towns to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is 2 5 adopt it which have heretofore been unable a partly-diagrammatic representation of one i i to employ such systems on account of their of the branches or circuits of the system. great expense. Fig. 2 is a side view of the operative parts of In carrying out my invention I run from a a register or recorder shown in plan in Fig.1. given point, which maybe considered the cen- Fig. 3 is an enlarged view, in side elevation, 30 tral station, a given number of circuits, using of one of the signal-boxes along the'line. 8o the ground as a return. I find it desirable to As before stated, let a given number of cirsubdivide a city or town into districts, runcuits be'run from a central station to differning one circuit to each district, and using, ent portions or districts of a town or city. In say, four or five signaling-instruments or sets connection with each circuit is a set of instru- 3 5 of instruments in each circuit. Of these inments for receiving, indicating, .or recording struments, those which are located at differthe signals from different points along the ent points along the line are for transmitting line of these circuits, and at proper and concurrent-impulses to produce certain signals venient points throughout the district are 10- or records at the central station. The instrncated a given number of transmitting de- 40 ments at each of such points are constructed Vices. or adjusted in such manner that one will ef- A A represent one of the circuits, and B fect very rapid makes and breaks in the cir- B B the signal-boxes or transmitting-instrucuiti. e., very short current-i1npulseswhile ments connected therewith. These instruthe other produces slower makes and breaks ments may be inclosed in boxes like the ordi- 45 and longer current-impulses. nary fire-alarm signal-boxes and secured to Y At the station there are receiving orrecordposts or otherwise, as may be desired. The ing instruments which, either by reason of main features in each box are illustrated in peculiarities in construction or by a special detail in Fig. 3. arrangement of circuit-connections, or both, C is a metal disk or wheel with teeth or 50 are adapted to respond one to the short or with insulating-spaces in its periphery simi- I00 lar to the disks heretofore used in messenger register and fire-alarm boxes. A contact-spring, D, bears upon the periphery of the disk, and the circuit is carried through the disk and spring, so that if the disk be turned the interruptions in the circuit carried by the spring passing over the insulated parts of the same signals of corresponding character will be sent over the line. Suitable provision is made-for turning the disk at an even rate of speed, and I may say that in so far as the mechanical construction and electrical connections are concerned I prefer to construct this device in accordance with the description in United States Patent No. 352,5i9. There is also in the box an electrical vibrator or instrument which makes and breaks the circuit wit-h great rapidity, such as an ordinary tremblerbell. The magnet E of this instrument sets in motion an armature, F, which has a back step, e. The circuit is completed through the step e and the armature, so thatthe moment the armature is drawn off from its stop the circuit is broken and the magnet loses its force. The instrument is included directly in the main circuit; but in order to prevent it from operating a shunt, G, is formed around it and a switch or key, II, included in the shunt. The system being operated on closed circuit, it is only necessary to open the switch H to direct the current tlnrough the vibrator.

All the signal-boxes are practically alike except in the number of teeth or insulatingspaces on the peripheries of the rotating disks C.

Of course it will be understood that with a suitable registerthe teeth of the disks may be longer or shorter, as in these forms of instrument which transmit Morse signals. In such case the shortest teeth must be long enough to operate the register; but with the register which I employ the teeth should all be of the same length.

At the central station the instruments and electrical connections are as follows: The circuit A includes a relay-magnet, K, and a linebattery, J, and then goes to ground. The pivoted retractile armature K of the main relay K vibrates between two independent front stops, 0 d, on the side of the magnet and one back-stop, I). The armature K, the stop (I, a wire, L, and battery L are parts of a local circuit which includes the magnet M of a secondary relay, the armature of which is designated by M, and for which there is a single back contact-stop, m. The armature K is electrically connected to the line A by a wire, K. Together with this wire and a portion of wire A the stop Z2, wire N, and the main battery J it forms a circuit, including the magnet O of a register or recorder, which consists of g a pivoted marking-lever, f, operated by the magnet O, to mark or indent a traveling band of paper, g. The construction of this device may be greatly Varied; but in practice I prefer to employ a constructed in accordance -with United States Patent No. 23 3,298, dated Auust 12, 1884. A third local circuit made through the armature K, stop c, wire P, armature M, stop 07?, wire P, a spring, 7t, carried by the 1mtrking-lever f, a contact'stop, '1', against which the spring impinges, wire P, and a battery, R, includes an annunciatordrop, S, which falls when the said circuit is completed. There are thus three local circuits which are in part or wholly under the control of the main relay K. The armatures K and M and the annunciator-drop S are suiiiciently sensitive to respond to any sudden or short makes or breaks of the circuit. The register, on the other hand, is now sluggish in its movement, an appreciable time being required to move its armature-lever f through the necessary space to record a dot.

In Fig. 2, which shows the register in elevation, the several parts are shown in their proper relative positionsthat is to say, the contact 2' is on the opposite side of the lever f to the strip of paper, so that when the lever f is attracted by the magnet to a sufficient extent to perforate the paper the contact between spring 7t and stop dis broken. In Fig. 1, which is merely a diagram, these relations are distorted in order to exhibit more clearly the electrical connections.

The manner of using these devices and the manner of operating the system is as follows: \Vhen a watchman or a police-patrol has to send in a signal from a certain box, he opens the box and simply turns the handle or mechanism controlling the rotation of the disk C. This sends the proper signal to the station by a succession of slow makes and breaks. On the first break armature K falls and closes the circuit through stop 1), wire N, registermagnet O, the armature K, and wires .K" and A. This moves the registenarm and records the signal on the traveling paper band and separates the spring 72. and stop 1'. The moment the circuit is closed again the armature K rises and breaks the circuit through the register. In rising the armature K makes contact with stops 0 and d, touching a light spring, 25, 011 stop 0 first. The annunciatorcircuit,although closed at this instantbetween armature K and stop 0 and armature M and stop on, is open between spring 71 and stop 1', which have not yet come together, owing to the slower movement of the lever f, and before contact can be established again between spring h and stop 2' the stop 61 is encountered by the lever K and the secondary relay-cin cuit closed. This separates armature M and stop at, so that the annunciator cannot work. \Vatchmens signals, therefore, will not affect the annunciator, but operate the register.

Suppose a fire occurs in the vicinity of one of the boxes. The watchman or key-holder simply presses the key H, which throws the current through the bell or vibrator, and by this means a rapid succession of impulses is sent over the line. These impulses, received at the station, set in rapid vibration the armature K, which touches, or is supposed to touch, the stops 0, d, and Z2 alternately. The instantaneous contact of the armature K with the stop I) is not sufficient to operate the register, which consequently remains practically unaffected, leaving spring h in contact with stop 2 but, again, when the lever K drops from its normal position of contact with stops d and c the armature of the secondary relay drops against stop on. In its subsequent upward movement the lever K encounters the spring 1, as above explained, just before it touches the stop (I. Hence for an instant the annnn- ClEIEOlFGllOllll? is completed, because lever M and stop on and spring 7L and stop 1', respectively, are in contact. This causes the drop to fall and indicate the circuit from which the alarm has been sent in. Although in many cases this might be sufficient, it will be desirable for the attendant at the station to depress a key, 10, in the main circuit. This stops the vibrator in the signal-box from operation, which is a signal to the watchman that his signal has been received. The latter may then send in the signal by the disk 0 to indicate the box near which the fire is burning. The latter signal maybe received audibly by the attendant at the station by having a bell in the circuit.

This system is capable of many uses for district telegraphing by means of a preconcerted code similar to those I have described, and apparatus may be constructed in a great variety of ways to effect the same result.

WVithout limiting myself to those as to details, what I claim is- 1. The combination, with an electric circuit and slowly and rapidly operating circuitbreakers or transmitters therein, of a primary and a secondary relay located at a given station, a register and an indicator, and local circuits, those containing the register and secondary relay being controlled by the main or primary relay alone and that containing the indicator being controlled conjointly by the main and secondary relays and the register, as and for thepurpose set forth.

2. A central-station apparatus for combined fire and police telegraphs, consisting of a main or primary and a secondary relay and two reeeiving-instrnments-such as a register or recorder and an indicatorcombined by means of the following circuits: a local circuit con taining the register and closed by the contact of the main relay-armature with its back-stop, a local circuit including the secondary relay and closed by the contact of the main relayarmature with a front stop, (Z, and a local circuit including the indicator and closed by the simultaneous contact of the main relay-armature with front stop, 0, the secondary relayarmature with its back-stop, and a spring on the register-armature with a stop, 1', as and for the purpose set forth.

Signed this 31st day of December, 1887.

THEO. J. ZOELLER.

Vitnesses:

FRANK B. MURPHY, FRANK E. HARTLEY. 

